How Idaho regulates memory care

Is memory care licensed separately in Idaho?

No: memory care in Boise is provided inside a licensed residential assisted living facility, and IDHW's license record shows how many of the facility's beds are secured beds, which is the closest thing to an official memory care designation.

Across the five counties, 55 licensed RALFs report secured beds, 1,219 secured beds in all, from 7 in a small home to 58 in the largest unit (IDHW data retrieved November 6, 2026). Another 32 senior RALFs list dementia among the resident types they accept without having secured beds.

What does Idaho require of a secured dementia unit?

If a facility accepts and keeps residents who have cognitive impairment and a history of elopement or attempted elopement, it must provide a secure and safe interior environment and exterior yard, and evaluate and adjust that security as residents' needs change.

The rules define elopement as a cognitively or otherwise impaired resident leaving the facility property, or the secured unit or yard, without staff knowing; any elopement, of any duration, is a reportable incident. The July 2026 amendments also define a behavior plan: a person-centered document, based on a functional assessment, with proactive steps to prevent a behavior and teach alternatives.

What should Boise families ask a memory care unit?

Ask how many secured beds the license shows, who is awake inside the secured area overnight, what dementia-specific training staff receive beyond the 16-hour orientation, and what changes would force a move to a nursing home.

• Confirm the unit's secured beds match IDHW's record on our facility page.
• Ask whether the secured area has its own staff at night or shares staff with the rest of the building.
• Ask for the behavior plan process and who writes it.
• Ask how the monthly price changes as care needs rise; there is no published Idaho memory care median.

Can a person with dementia live in an Idaho RALF without a secured unit?

Yes, if the person does not try to leave unsupervised: many Treasure Valley RALFs list dementia among the resident types they accept but have no secured beds, which suits early-stage dementia without wandering.

Once exit-seeking starts, the rule on secure environments applies, and a move to a secured unit is usually the answer. The memory care roster lists every RALF in our counties with secured beds.